Strange oneshots
by Tennoda
Summary: Dawn is a young woman with the power to control metal. Of course she meets the Cybertronians. Chapters are not conneced to each other, they're just made for fun. I'll put the names of the transformers that are in each chapter into the chapter name.
1. A danger to you, Optimus

"NO, BUMBLEBEE!"

The attack had come as a complete surprise to every Autobot and human in the base. A single, small Decepticon had somehow found his way there and had accidentally been discovered from his hiding spot by Bumblebee. The yellow mech had been caught off guard as the Decepticon launched a devastating attack.

Dawn was the first one to scream, seeing the roughly human size 'con jump at her friend, thrusting a long blade through his chest plate. The unprepared Autobot wailed and fell backwards, his assailant still attacking him.

Optimus and Ironhide readied their blasters instinctively, only to realize they couldn't shoot the Decepticon without hitting Bumblebee too. Dawn was standing further away with Ratchet, to whom she had been talking to before the unexpected attack.

The other two Autobots rushed to help the injured mech, but froze before reaching him. The smaller Decepticon had ceased his attacks and was now shaking uncontrollably. It was like a full-blown seizure, only a foaming mouth missing.

Ratchet looked down to his side where Dawn had been standing and where she still was, but now her hand had come up, pointed straight towards the Decepticon, her eyes blazing with rage. He had heard the woman had some inhuman powers, but none of them had seen them before. Only a few of the other humans knew what they were.

Now it seemed, though, that they were going to get a demonstration.

Everyone had by then, noticed that something abnormal was going on and heads were turning between the woman and the Decepticon. Dawn didn't see them looking at her. All she saw was Bumblebee on the floor and the Decepticon that had caused him to hurt.

And now she would hurt him. She would hurt him badly.

Her hand was trembling a little from the use of her powers, she hadn't had a lot of practice using them, but her rage fueled her more than enough. Lifting her arm higher, the helpless 'con rose from the ground with the power of her mind.

The power to control metal.

The Decepticon's screechy sounds filled the large hall as he was slowly compressed, from feet upwards, until she reached his head and popped it right off. She stopped concentrating and let the limp body fall next to the head, where the red lights from the optics had already gone out.

Dawn fell on one knee. It felt like her head had been hazy with mist that had now cleared. She looked at what she had done and her breath caught in her throat.

Nonononononono! She hadn't just used her powers in front of everyone. Raising her head, she let her eyes travel across the hall, at the shocked faces of humans and Cybertronians alike.

Oh fuck, she had done it.

All the rage was gone and she could feel the panic starting. She staggered to her feet and rushed to get out.

"Dawn! Dawn!" Someone called out to her, but she couldn't register who, she had to get away. She was almost at the door, when someone appeared behind her.

"Dawn, just wait and let me…"

"Leave me alone!" She shouted and flung her arm at the source of the disturbance, the move resulting in a loud crash.

She stopped, holding the door handle, and looked back. There was Ratchet, lying on the floor, looking surprised as ever. That was more than she could handle at the moment, so she just ran out the door, slamming it shut behind her.

Outside she was immediately struck by heavy rain, lashing against her face. Out of everyone's sight, she ran away from the base, into the barren wilderness.

Why did she always do this? She had seen enough times people witnessing her powers and it had almost always ended up in them fearing and hating her. This time it was worse. She really liked the Autobots, but of all the beings on planet Earth, they had the most rights to hate and stay away from her. She had even turned her powers against Ratchet, even if not on purpose, it was still a horrible thing to do.

Dawn kept running, trying to get as far as she could, but her energy was spent and she had little left to use anymore. She couldn't see anything from the rain, it was pouring in her eyes from her messed up hair. She didn't want to stop yet, so she continued running practically blind.

She went on until her feet started to give in and she finally fell over, face first on to the soggy ground. She breathed heavily, not sure if she was crying or not, she couldn't tell from the rain if it was tears or raindrops falling down her face. She thought of staying there, becoming a part of the earth, that way she at least couldn't harm anyone she cared about. The rain seemed to help her in that, her clothes soaking all the weight of the water and pressing her down.

Dawn didn't know how long she was there, before she heard the truck approaching. She knew who it was and didn't want to face him right then. She tried to get up, but fell to her knees, exhausted. She didn't turn to look back when she heard the truck transform.

"Dawn", came the booming, but surprisingly gentle voice of Optimus Prime. "What happened, why did you run away?"

Still on her knees, Dawn kept her eyes on the ground, but huffed in disbelief. "You're asking why? Didn't you see what I did?"

She heard the Autobot leader coming closer and kneeling beside her. Suddenly she couldn't feel the rain anymore. She looked up to see Optimus holding his hand above her.

"I saw you defend Bumblebee when he needed help. There is nothing wrong with that."

Dawn wanted to believe it, but her fears were holding her back. "Optimus, I control metal, you are all made of metal. I am a danger to you. I even flipped out on Ratchet for now reason."

She was finally looking right into the gigantic mechs optics, searching for the words that would convince him to abandon and forget about her. Unfortunately she had forgotten how hard it was to look in to those piercing, blue optics and maintain one's resolve, especially in such close vicinity. She had always been skillful at interpreting the Cybertronians' expressions, no matter how minimal they were. Now she saw patience and wisdom in that majestic face. She knew she couldn't convince him.

"I'm just so scared I might hurt one of you."

Optimus nodded understandingly. "That is why, my young friend, that kind of skills must be honed. You will learn to control your powers by training. And you can count on our help, whenever you need it."

Dawn took a deep breath, wiping the mix of water and salty tears off of her face. "Is Bumblebee okay?"

"His spark wasn't harmed, all other damage Ratchet can fix."

"Thank goodness", the woman muttered relieved and then let out a small laugh. "I guess I should stay away from Ratchet for a while, or he might just sit on me for knocking him to the ground like that and just leaving."

It was hard to tell, but Optimus was smiling, or at least doing the equivalent of that. "I think you need not to worry about that, he _is_, after all, quite fond of you. Instead you should worry about him following you around everywhere now that he has seen what you can do. Curiosity is the strongest feature you humans and him have in common."

"Yeah…" Dawn rubbed the back of her neck, thinking twice about going back. She had seen some of the experiments Ratchet had performed out of curiosity, and it wasn't exactly mind easing. "Well… I guess Sideswipe and Sunstreaker will be happy to know that Ratchet won't have as much time to keep an eye on them."

Optimus shook his head, his voice just noticeably strained. "You make a good point, I'll have to assign someone to follow them around for a while. Ironhide can take that duty at first, maybe he'll scare them to behave for once."

Dawn laughed more freely this time, thinking of the twins and how easily they got bored when there was no action going on, resulting often to nerve-racking mischievous deeds. "Then I'm definitely going to get sat on when Ironhide hears who's to blame for his new assignment."

"I'm afraid that indeed might be a very likely situation", the large mech admitted half-serious. Dawn loved it when Optimus was like this. Relaxed for a change, even participating in her joke. It was a rare sight.

"I guess I'm ready to go back now", she sighed, feeling a weight had been lifted from her shoulders. "Thank you Optimus."

"You are welcome."

Optimus stood up, intending to transform back to a truck, but Dawn stopped him. "You'd better not, I'll only end up getting mud and dirt on the seats."

"Your well-being is more important than that."

"Thanks, but I'm fine. Besides, can't get any wetter than this."

Optimus accepted her statement and picked her up on his hand instead. Dawn sat down on his palm, keeping her balance by leaning on one of his fingers. It was still raining, so the surface of his hand was slippery, she knew it would be easy to fall if she wasn't careful.

But Optimus was careful with her too, walking as evenly as possible. They weren't too far from the base, at least not by a giant mech's standards. Soon they saw Bumblebee and Ratchet standing next to the hall they had been in earlier.

"Bumblebee!" Dawn yelled and waved at the smaller Autobot. He waved back, chirping happily, but was immediately hurried by Ratchet to get back inside.

"There, are you content now? She's alright. Now get your rear to the medical bay so I can fix you before your parts start to fall out."

Dawn shook her head, smiling. That was Ratchet, all right. Always impatient with his patients. She knew the chief medical officer well enough to know he did have a softer side, but it was most of the time hidden under the practical one.

Ratchet escorted Bumblebee through the large door that was made to fit them, but before they vanished inside, Dawn could have sworn she heard Ratchet thinking aloud to himself.

"As soon as I get this done, I can start looking for the supplies for the experiment…"

Dawn turned to look at Optimus.

"Sooo… is it too late to change my mind?"


	2. Fun with the twins, Sides Sunny

Dawn woke up in an unfamiliar place. It took her a moment to let her surroundings sink in and realize that she was in her new room in the Autobot base.

She hadn't been there for long yet, a few weeks and everything was still somewhat new to her. She didn't have trouble sleeping, though, since from the day she had revealed her metal controlling powers to the others, she had been practicing them relentlessly.

She occasionally got help from some of the Autobots, which was sometimes a good and sometimes not such a good thing. Ironhide for example, training with him was… insert the sound of a whiplash. Well, it was the main reason why she was so exhausted after the day. Optimus on the other hand was patient and gave her good advice and constructive criticism. Unfortunately he had lots of other things to do than to train her.

Besides the two of them, just about anyone with nothing to do came to help her at some point. It was a good way to get to know everyone and with every Autobot she got to know, she liked them more and more. She wouldn't hesitate to defend them and fight with them against the Decepticons.

That was if she would someday be allowed to go with them on the missions. Optimus had made it clear he wouldn't do that until he would be satisfied with her progress. Hence the continuous training.

Dawn stretched and yawned, throwing her arm across her face to block the bright sunlight for a little longer.

"Finally! She's awake."

Normally Dawn would have been startled by the unexpected voice next to her bed, but this one she recognized too well.

"Too early for whatever you're here for, Sideswipe", she murmured and turned around to bury her face in the pillow.

"It seems we have a case of sleeping beauty here", she heard Sunstreaker on the other side of the bed. "What do you think we should do about it, brother?"

"If you try to kiss me, you'll be spending the next month in Ratchet's tender care", her muffled threat made the twins grin at each other.

"Aw, come on", Sideswipe sat down, placing his elbows on the bed and leaned his head on them. "You know you like us."

Dawn knew she wouldn't get rid of the twins by ignoring them, so she turned her head to see Sideswipe smirking at her. "Alright, just tell me what do you want and then get your holoform rears somewhere else so I can wake up in peace and get to training."

Sideswipe leaned closer until his face was right in front of hers, his blue optics glowing brightly. "We're here to abduct you."

Dawn stared at the Autobot for a moment in silence. "So you're bored again?"

"Pretty much yes."

She turned on her back and sat up. "Why don't you just drive to town and search for signs of the Decepticons?"

Sunstreaker shrugged and moved to the foot of the bed. "There hasn't been any sightings anywhere in a long time."

Dawn threw her covers aside. "Sorry to hear guys, but I really have to get going, don't want to waste good training time."

She moved to slide out of the bed, but Sideswipe put his arm over her legs, preventing her. "You've been obsessed with your training lately and we've decided to help you…"

Both Autobots looked too joyful, which always made Dawn nervous.

Sunstreaker finished his brothers sentence. "…By abducting you and taking you out to have some fun once in a while."

Dawn sighed, but before she could do or say anything, Sideswipe stood up and nodded to his twin brother.

"Hey, what the hell, guys!" The woman protested as she was grabbed by her arms and legs and carried to the door. "You can't be serious!"

The effect of her words was somewhat diminished by the fact that she was almost laughing. She did like the twins, even though sometimes they tended to be too impulsive. This was clearly one of those days.

On the way they passed by Ratchet and Ironhide, who stopped talking when they saw the strange sight. Dawn turned to look at them and waved her fingers.

"Hi! Just passing by here."

"So I see", Ratchet stated, fidgeting with some kind of device. "So Sideswipe and Sunstreaker went ahead with their plan."

The twins chuckled and Sunstreaker shook his head. "We can't take credit for this, when it was you who gave us the idea."

Dawn cast a surprised look at the medic, who glimpsed at her from his work. "You have been straining yourself too much these past few weeks. You need to take a break."

"So you convinced these two to carry out this plot."

"Actually they overheard me talking to Optimus. But as you humans say, this way I can kill two birds with one stone. You go relax for a change and make sure you keep those two away from here a while so I can finish my work uninterrupted by their constant complaining."

"Sure", Dawn agreed. "I just wish they would've let me get dressed first."

They continued forward, Sideswipe's words fading away. "What's wrong, you are clothed. Besides…"

Ironhide watched until they disappeared from sight. "I can't help, but feel bad for her. Those two make me feel older each time they come up with some of their ridiculous shenanigans."

Ratchet started walking back to his medical bay. "Dawn can handle them, I don't doubt that."

"It didn't seem like it just now."

"With her powers and how much she's improved them, she could probably easily put the twins in their place if she wanted to."

Ironhide followed the medic. "You seem to have observed her progress very closely during her stay."

"Yes I have", he said, but didn't continue or explain why. Ironhide didn't ask.

Back at the operation 'Dawn abduction', they had gotten to the two Lamborghinis parked in front of the main gate.

"You guys know I could've walked here", Dawn pointed out when they let her down.

The twins shut off their holoforms and the red Lamborghini's door opened. "You would have come voluntarily?"

Dawn couldn't say anything to that, so she rolled her eyes and got in the car. Sunstreaker drove next to them. "Ready to go?"

Dawn shrugged and smiled. "Well, it's what the doctor ordered."

"I'll race you", Sideswipe dared and roared his engine.

"Haven't I beaten you enough times yet, brother", Sunstreaker boasted.

"I think you might have a problem with your memory circuits, since it was me, who won the last time."

"I just know I'm going to regret this", Dawn hastily put the seatbelt on and leaned back on her seat.

"We'll see who's better this time", Sunstreaker retaliated. "Readysetgo!"

The red and yellow Lamborghinis dashed out through the open gate, Sunstreaker slightly ahead.

"Trust me", Dawn heard Sideswipe's excited voice. "This is just what you need to loosen up."

"Yeah well, at this rate I'll be so loose when we get to wherever it is we're going that I won't be able to move from this seat."

The ride wasn't actually that bad. At first. In the beginning they saw only barren wilderness around them, but eventually the landscape changed to woods and curved roads. That was when Dawn held on to her seat and closed her eyes, feeling how they were skidding in sharp turns. At least she wasn't thinking about training.

After a few near heart failures, they finally came to a sudden halt.

"Hah, I won!" Sunstreaker exclaimed victoriously.

"No way, what race were you watching, you scrap metal for optics. Hey Dawn, you tell us who won."

"Can I open my eyes now?"

The twins laughed and Sideswipe opened the door for her. "You should. I think you might like this place."

Dawn did so and drew breath in astonishment. She stepped out slowly, admiring the beautiful landscape around them. Sideswipe and Sunstreaker transformed back to their bipedal modes and stood next to her. Dawn let her eyes travel across the forest that went on as far as she could see and below them from the edge of the cliff they were standing on. Below them was a small valley with a lake in the middle, completed with a tall waterfall.

"This is perfect", she couldn't take her eyes off the scenery. It sure was a welcome change to the Autobot base.

"Success", Sideswipe grinned and gave a high-five to his brother. "We came across this place on one of our Decepticon searches."

"So", Sunstreaker knelt down and offered his hand to Dawn. "Wanna go check it out?"

Dawn's smile widened as she let the Autobot lift her on his shoulder. She had completely forgiven the twins for abducting her, since they had brought her to this paradise.

"Hey Sunstreaker!" Sideswipe called to his brother. "I'll race you to the bottom."

"Sideswipe!" Dawn yelled, grabbing Sunstreaker's head tighter. "You do that and nobody will ever find your rusting carcasses from the bottom of that lake!"

"My carcass is too pretty to be thrown in a lake, so I'll guess I'll have to say no this time, brother."

"Aw", Sideswipe groaned, as if disappointed, but failing to hide a smile. "I thought we came here to have fun."

"If you want to race, keep me out of it."

They started their way down, thankfully at a walking speed. Dawn listened for a while to the twins' bickering, but she was too enchanted by the forest to pay close attention. She simply felt happy and serene. Like she was out playing with her brothers, without a care in the world.

It was weird how fast she had begun to think of the Autobots as a family more than friends. Maybe it was because her real family was long since gone. Still, the Autobots had their own roles in her mind. The twins were like goofy little brothers and Bumblebee, despite being the youngest, acted like the older, overly protective brother.

She loved them, no doubt about that, and loved what her life had become, even with the fact that there was a war going on with the Decepticons. Here she was accepted. She didn't want to think what the future might bring for all of them, not there and then, everything was too perfect for such thoughts.

Dawn leaned her head against Sunstreaker's and sighed. Ratchet had given her a job to do, so she might as well start coming up with ideas how to keep the twins busy for the rest of the day.


	3. Meeting the cons, Starscream Barricade

She was having the worst day of her life.

If anyone had disagreed, she would have simply pointed to the giant robot towering over her, staring at her with it's flaming red optics.

But for obvious reasons, no-one was there to contradict her, since most of the people around her were busy running anywhere that wasn't in the way of the malevolent robot. That is everyone, who wasn't already injured or killed.

The walls in the coffee diner, she had a moment ago walked into unsuspectingly, were crumbling and a large part of the roof had been torn off or had collapsed where the robots had made their entrance.

There were two of them as far as she knew and they were after something, or rather someone. That she had found out by being in the wrong place, in the wrong time. She tried to help an elderly, well-dressed man, who had been hit with the falling debris, when she saw one of the robots fix it's gaze on them.

"Target acquired. Go after the other one."

The other robot left, and the one watching them, started coming closer. It was wide, with presumably some kind of wings on it's back, breaking what was left of the walls and furniture as it approached. It was huge, and the older man began whimpering in panic.

"I did everything as agreed, why are you doing this."

The winged robot grinned slyly. "You're coming with us. Megatron has another use for you."

She didn't like that robot. Not only it had caused horrible destruction, it also seemed to be quite arrogant. If she had been like any other human, she might've been too scared to notice such things.

But Dawn wasn't like any other human.

She stepped in front of the injured man, blocking the robot's way. It stopped not far from her, confused by the reaction that was the complete opposite of what humans normally did. It brought it's head down to observe her closer.

"And what do you think you're doing, little fleshling?"

Dawn struggled to keep her cool while the nightmarish thing examined her. When they had suddenly attacked, she had been as freaked out as everyone else, but her strong sense of moral had told her she couldn't just run and leave the helpless man to these monsters. Not when she was the only one who could fight back.

The only human who could control metal with her mind. Like the metal in those robots.

Still, she was somewhat scared, she had never tried her powers on something that big, and those things were like nothing she had ever seen, out of this world.

Coincidentally, she had no idea how right she was about that.

"I'm telling you and your robot buddy to leave us be and go back to wherever it is you came from."

At first her answer left the robot speechless, then it let out a chuckle and finally started to bark with laughter, standing up to its full height and shaking its head.

"I don't believe this", it kept laughing like it had heard the world's funniest joke. "Barricade, you have to see this crazy fleshling." Then it took a mocking tone and pointed one finger at Dawn, giving her a small shove that forced her to take a step back. "So what is it you're going to do, little insect? Do tell, I'd like to know."

Dawn had been right. It, or he, she wasn't sure, was arrogant. It suited her fine, since it only made it easier to do what she was about to do.

"How about something like _this_!"

The other robot named Barricade came back just in time to witness the first one fall flat on his back, for no visible reason.

"Starscream, what are you doing. We came here to do a job, stop messing around."

Dawn quickly turned back and helped the man up. "You have to get out of here, can you make it on your own?"

The older man looked at her with his mouth open in astonishment. "W-what are you, how did you do that?"

She felt a twinge of anger from the insulting question, but ignored it for now. "Look, that's not important right now, can you get out on your own?"

The man looked behind her, at the pissed off robot that was getting up as they spoke and his eyes got wider if possible. "Y-yes, I think so."

"Then you'd better go _now_", Dawn stated dead serious, seeing a shadow of the creature called Starscream coming closer.

The man started backing away, reaching for anything to support him. Dawn turned around, determined to win the man enough time to escape.

"You pathetic… insect!" The winged robot growled. With one big step he was in front of her. Dawn used her powers to throw him back again, put this time she only managed to push him back a few steps.

Starscream gave her a smug grin. "Running out of power already, little girl? Too bad for you."

Dawn hesitated, but not for long. If she wasn't yet able to move something that big, she would have to use something she could move. Lifting both arms up to her sides, she concentrated on the metallic support pillars on the other side of the diner. Two of them lifted behind the unsuspecting robot.

Barricade was standing further back, holding some unfortunate human in an iron grip, watching the events, but clearly not caring enough to help his comrade. "I think you might be underestimating this one, Starscream."

Starscream glanced back, noticing the levitating pillars right when one of them came sideways and hit him hard. Dawn ran out of the robot's way and swung her hand, sending the other one to the same address. Starscream went down with a crash, again.

Dawn looked at Barricade, ready to defend herself from his attack, but the giant robot wasn't moving. On top of that, seeing the woman watching him carefully, he simply shrugged. "I've got what I came for, if he screws up, it's his problem.

Dawn raised a questioning brow, but had no time to ponder if he was telling the truth and really going to do nothing. Starscream grabbed the pillar that had knocked him over and threw it back at her. She had too little time to stop it, so she ducked and changed it's course so it went over her hitting a wall behind her instead.

Right then it became clear to her, as she stared at the rubble and broken glass on the ground, that she was actually engaged in a life or death battle. She had to wonder how come she wasn't petrified with fear, it wasn't like she had done this before. Maybe it was the adrenaline that was coursing through her veins, silencing all the surrounding sounds and making everything look like slow-motion.

"You pestilent human, how dare you oppose the Decepticons!"

Dawn smirked at the enraged robot. "Never heard of you, but if the rest of your _Decepticons_ fight as well as you, I'm not worried."

They heard Barricade laughing. Starscream practically shot daggers out of his optics at him. "I'm glad you find this situation so amusing, Barricade. Perhaps you want to be the one explain to lord Megatron why the other human is getting away as we speak."

Dawn was backing away as they spoke, trying her luck at sneaking away. She inched her way slowly further as Barricade sighed and rolled his optics.

"You are the one who's pathetic. Here."

With one swift move, Barricade raised his blaster and aimed at the woman. Dawn took a sharp breath and dashed aside when the blast came, scorching her as it went by. She hit the ground as the world started breaking to pieces around her.

The two Decepticons watched as the woman was buried under falling debris. After everything had quieted again, they could hear the sound of police sirens approaching. Barricade turned and walked out of the remains of the building, with grumpy Starscream following him.

Barricade searched their surroundings. "The human can't have gotten far, we'll find him."

Starscream didn't say anything. He just wanted to get this mission over with and then start to think how to explain his new dents to Megatron. Although he was sure that Barricade would be more than happy to share his version with their leader.

Hmph, like he had done anything before that shot. He hadn't been the one pummeled with metal pillars, easy for him to stand there away from the line of fire. Starscream would make sure he wasn't going to look like a fool when they would give their report.

Dawn opened her eyes.

She felt disorientated. Her eyes started watering and her mouth was full of dust. She coughed and tried to focus her gaze on her surroundings. She was facing the floor and saw broken bricks and other kind of debris all over her, and felt it on top of her.

She remembered what had happened. What she didn't know, was how she hadn't been crushed.

She began moving slowly, afraid something could still come down on her if she wasn't careful. She turned on her back and saw that she was laying in a small air pocket that had saved her. When she looked closer, she noticed a pillar that had bent over her and blocked the biggest pieces of the wall.

Dawn began to feel the pain from the explosion that had burned her and from the debris that had hit her, but she was still too out of it to experience it completely. She would've wanted to know, how exactly the pillar had bent over her, because she didn't remember doing that.

At least she hadn't thought about doing that, but she couldn't count out the chance that it had been some kind of a reflex. After all, she had never before this tested her powers in a real life threatening situation.

Whatever it was, she would now have to get out. Dawn decided to try something that might keep her from getting crushed. She lifted her hands against the pillar, with fingers spread and concentrated on it. Slowly she moved her hands apart, making the metal stretch. She kept stretching it until she had a wide metal plate. She hoped it would endure and pushed it, and with it, the wall up and out of the way. Some rubble fell on her, but it was too good to get out of there to care.

Dawn crawled over a pile of rocks and stood up shakily. The place sure looked like a battlefield. There were no signs of the Decepticons, only the destruction they had left behind.

What were they, where had they come from and why had they been after those men? She might never find out and it frustrated her. She wouldn't give up yet, though. If there was a way to find out more about them, she would find it as well as find how to stop them.


	4. An appointment with doctor Ratchet

Dawn stared in nervous expectance at the Chief medical officer. She was sitting on a table built for Cybertronian size, waving her feet back and forth in the air, watching the Autobot working over by his table.

Ratchet had sent for her and since she didn't know why, she expected the worst. When she had tried to ask that from Bumblebee, who had delivered the message, the young mech had simply shrugged, not knowing either. Dawn had turned to look at Optimus, who she had been talking with. His expression hadn't exactly filled her with confidence. Even the great Autobot leader had seemed hesitant for unknown reasons. He had stood up to his impressive height and walked away, muttering what sounded like a warning. "It'll be easier if you just do everything he says, trust me."

Dawn had tried to push away the bad feeling she had gotten, without succeeding. Reluctantly, she had headed for the medical bay, where Ratchet had made her wait, until his work would be finished.

So there she sat and waited, feeling her heart beating faster the longer she had to wait. Of course it didn't go unnoticed by the medic.

"What's wrong, Dawn? Your pulse is unusually high."

"It's nothing, don't worry. Are you soon ready to tell me why I'm here?"

Ratchet interrupted his work and walked over to Dawn. "Don't try to change the subject."

Not waiting for her permission, the medic took out one of his devices and started examining the woman, lifting her on her feet, spinning her around and prodding her, until she had had enough and protested.

"Ratchet, please! I'm fine."

"Your body is stressed, you've been training too much _again_."

Dawn bit her lip. She hadn't thought it would be that obvious to the medic. Last time the mech had warned her of that, he had emphasized his warning by threatening to lock her in her room, if she didn't do as told.

"Well, sorry", Dawn said, not meaning it, though. "But I have to train, or Optimus won't let me come with you on the missions."

Ratchet shook his head and gave her a strict look. "I haven't yet studied all the effects your powers have on your body, not to mention using them continuously like you do now. Until I say otherwise, it's considered dangerous."

Dawn frowned, ready to start an argument with the medic. "Aren't you forgetting that it's _my _body we're talking about here? You can't just tell me what to do with it."

Ratchet's optics narrowed slightly. "And you, young lady, are forgetting that I'm the chief medical officer here, and nobody's going on any missions if I deem their condition unfit."

There they went with the 'young lady' again. Dawn hated it when Ratchet referred to her as that. She also knew, he only did that when he was serious about something.

"Fine then", she exclaimed irritated. "I'll show you that nothing strange happens to me when I use my powers."

Dawn stepped back from the edge of the table and pointed her hands at her feet. Immediately the table started shaking and lifted slightly from the floor. She kept concentrating and lifted it higher, balancing it perfectly the whole time. Feeling she had it under control, she looked up at Ratchet who was now in eyelevel with her.

"So? Does your scan reveal anything dangerous?"

Ratchet was quiet for a while and then spoke ponderingly. "Since we are here now, I guess we might as well test your powers under _proper_ surveillance. I already had to have a little conversation with Ironhide the other day about human physique, after seeing how he was training you."

Dawn didn't argue with that, she had been nearly unable to walk away after Ironhide's little training session. After that, she had trained out of sight for a while to avoid running into him. She was devoted to improving her skills, but by the time she had fallen on her hands and knees from exhaustion, breath wheezing, and then heard Ironhide telling her to get up, since they had just gotten started, she had had enough.

Ratchet probably wouldn't be that bad. Probably.

"It's a deal. Just tell me what you want me to do."

"You can start by putting the table back on place. Then we'll go borrow some equipment from Wheeljack."

Dawn did so and jumped down from the table, following the medic into Wheeljack's workroom. The Autobot wasn't there, but it didn't bother Ratchet, as he went straight for a crate filled with pieces of metal. Ratchet picked up a handful and turned to Dawn.

"This will do."

Dawn hesitated. "Are you sure Wheeljack won't mind us using these? I mean, I can't guarantee I won't break them accidentally."

"This is just scrap metal, it doesn't matter. Here, levitate these."

Ratchet threw the pieces of metal in the air and Dawn's hand jerked forward to focus her power. It worked and they stayed floating in the air.

"That appears easy", Ratchet nodded. "Causes only minimal strain to your body. Next turn one of the pieces in the middle."

She hadn't tried stuff like that before. Not something this intricate. She had mostly practiced moving bigger and heavier objects and the sudden pulse which she had used to throw back enemies. This was different.

She did it, however, and Ratchet still seemed satisfied with her vital functions. He grabbed another handful and threw it too. He didn't have to say what to do, Dawn raised her other hand and caught the second wave of metal.

"Good, now move one piece from both sides and bring them together in the middle."

Dawn chewed her lip, concentrating harder on the task. Dividing her attention to keeping the rest of the pieces in the air while moving two different ones individually wasn't as easy anymore.

She managed that too, but had to concentrate harder than normally, which of course didn't go unnoticed by Ratchet. He didn't say anything about it, though, so Dawn guessed he wasn't worried yet.

"And now", the Autobot medic reached into the crate once more and held up one single piece between his fingers. "Catch this."

He let it drop. It fell slowly in Dawn's eyes as she was trying to keep it all together and force her mind to work in a way it hadn't done before.

A rain of metal hit the floor and Dawn let out the breath she'd been holding, disappointed at herself. The one piece of metal Ratchet had dropped, was still hovering in the air, but everything else had gone down.

"Do you see what you're doing?"

Dawn lifted her eyes from the mess on the floor and looked puzzled at Ratchet.

"You're not using your hands anymore."

Dawn spent a moment in stunned silence, realizing he was right. She hadn't even been looking at the piece. Carefully she moved it over to her and dropped it in her hand. "I didn't know I could do that."

Ratchet crossed his arms across his chest knowingly. "You really need a proper mentor, you know that?"

Dawn grimaced at the thought of having to follow the watchful medic around everyday. He probably could teach her new things, but how long would it take, before she would blow a fuse with him and his constant medical check ups and worrying about her health.

"Good to see you're having fun, but I hope you still intent to clean up after you."

Ratchet lifted his optics and greeted the Autobot inventor, who'd just walked in. "Sure thing Wheeljack, we're actually just finishing."

Dawn had turned and smiled at the mech. "Sorry about the mess, but I'm happy to tell you that I didn't break anything." She quickly gathered all the pieces together and flew them back to the crate.

"Then you can say more than Wheeljack usually can after testing his inventions." Ratchet commented with a one-sided grin.

"Haha Ratchet, very funny. Remind me to bring my next invention to you for a test run." Wheeljack walked over to them and gave Dawn a light pat on the back. "You just train with him, but please do me a favor and don't learn from his attitude."

"Count on that", Dawn said with a wink. She glanced at Ratchet, who looked a little too happy with himself.

"You're not going to train with me", he announced smugly. "You're training with him from now on."

Both Dawn and Wheeljack stared dumbfounded at the medic, until Dawn dared to ask. "Why? No offense, Wheeljack."

"My question exactly. And none taken. What am I supposed to teach her? I think Jazz could help her better. I'm pretty sure he hasn't been doing anything useful lately."

Ratchet shook his head. "No, she needs to take it easier for a while. She will help you around here, you just tell her what you need." The medic gave Dawn a stern look. "And you practice like we just did, no heavy stuff until I say so. Experiment, try new things, you might learn more about your powers."

"If I don't get blown up first", the woman muttered under her breath. Unfortunately she had been around long enough to see a couple of Wheeljack's inventions and witness first hand how they worked… or didn't.

"Have fun, you two", Ratchet waved his hand at them and left the human and the Autobot inventor staring after him, still baffled.

"So…", Dawn started. "What are you working on?"

That brought life into Wheeljack as finally someone wanted to hear about his inventions. "Oh, it's something exciting. Come here and I'll show you, it's a machine that I designed to absorb the energy from explosions and…"

Dawn stopped listening after the word 'explosions', wishing she had still been training with Ironhide.


	5. Surprise attack, Megatron

It was half past midnight and Dawn was sound asleep. This was the first time she had been able to return home, ever since she got caught in the war that was going on between the Autobots and the Decepticons. She still had some trouble remembering that it was all real when she woke up in the mornings.

But she wasn't thinking about it, she was dreaming. For some reason, she dreamt of living in a big, abandoned house, where everything kept changing. The windows, furniture, every room in the house was different when she turned to look somewhere else. And all around her, she could hear weird creaky sounds creeping closer in the walls.

The dream was starting to scare her and Dawn didn't want to see what was going to happen. She knew it was a dream, so she was able to wake herself up. Somewhere between the dream and reality, she opened her eyes to see her old room, which wasn't changing to anything.

But the creaky noises were still there.

Dawn didn't move and after a while, they stopped. She was about to sigh and turn to her other side, when they started again. And now she was sure she was awake.

She darted up, acting solely on instinct. Something was in her room and whatever it was, it sure as hell wasn't supposed to be there in the middle of the night. She struck the darkness with a burst of her metal controlling power and hit something, hearing a loud crash from the other side of the room. The fact that she had been able to do that, meant that it wasn't human.

A Decepticon?

The thought made her blood turn to ice. She was out of bed and running before she could even glimpse at the creature that had tried to sneak up on her. She knew she had to get out, get to safety and alert the Autobots. How she was going to do that with her cell phone still in her bedroom, she didn't know yet.

She ran straight to the front door before stopping to look behind. Two red optics stared back at her from the dark corridor, verifying her suspicions. She could vaguely make out a cat-like figure, only a lot bigger.

That's pretty much when all hell broke loose.

Dawn opened the door and prepared to make a run for it, but froze in place, seeing a pair of metallic feet waiting outside. She looked up at a familiar face that was sneering at her.

"How nice to meet you again, puny human. I've been waiting for this."

She remembered him from the coffee diner attack, Starscream. And apparently he hadn't forgotten her either.

Dawn dashed back inside just when the winged Decepticon blasted the front of the house, flying shrapnel and debris all around, some of it hitting her back. She changed her plan and decided to try her luck with the cat creature.

It was still there, waiting for her. It got ready to lunge itself at her, but with the amount of adrenaline Dawn had at the moment, she flung it aside easily, with enough force to send it through a wall and into her bathroom. She kept running to her room to retrieve her phone.

Last time the Decepticons had been after someone else, but now they were clearly interested in her. How they knew about her, she had no idea, since they should've thought she was dead after she'd been buried under the rubble. Somehow they'd found out about her and were probably there to make sure she would die this time.

Dawn found her cell phone on the bedside table where she always kept it and chose the first number in it: base. She kept looking out for the feline Decepticon, in case it hadn't had enough yet, and doing so, couldn't see what was happening behind her.

She heard the sound of glass shattering and turned to see the wall being torn to pieces, revealing another Decepticon she knew from before. Barricade, she remembered, he had been the one to shoot at her, ending their previous encounter.

This time luck wasn't on her side, as she got hit hard by a hail of rubble, too surprised to think of fighting back. She covered her head with her arms, at the same time hearing a faint 'hello?' from the phone she was holding.

"Please, help me!" She managed to shout at the phone, before she was hit again, this time by the back of Barricade's hand. Now it was her turn to get better acquainted with the wall, where her little flight ended. She slumped to the floor, all air knocked out of her and gasping desperately to draw breath into her empty lungs.

She didn't get the time to recuperate or find the phone she had dropped, when Barricade was already reaching for her, grabbing her roughly around her waist and pulling her out of the apartment. She placed her hands on his metal fingers and used her powers to force them slightly apart. It was relatively easy, maybe because she was touching him, and she literally slid through his fingers, dropping down on to the ground.

Regaining some of her composure she concentrated all her will in pushing the Decepticon off his feet and then took the opportunity to try and run somewhere out of sight. There were other people who had noticed what was going on and were leaving their homes in panic, Dawn running with them.

"And where do you think you're going?"

Starscream's voice made Dawn stop, ready to defend herself against the arrogant Decepticon if he tried to come after her. She saw him standing on the roof and raising his arm.

Then she watched as he started shooting the people running away from them.

"NO! You son of a bitch, let them go!" Dawn shouted, infuriated and turned back, ready to face every Decepticon there. "I'll turn every last of you motherfuckers into spare parts, if you dare to harm another human here."

Starscream chuckled at the unlikely threat, and Dawn too could see that she was probably way over her head. Barricade was up and stalking her from the side and the cat-like Decepticon was slowly making its way closer.

But she didn't care.

Dawn was shaking from the anger she felt. She didn't want to turn around to look at the charred corpses, she could smell them. She couldn't believe how evil the Decepticons were. How someone, how anything could cause such mindless destruction.

She had to stop them, by herself it seemed, but she simply had to. Dawn closed her eyes to focus her mind and kept them shut, surprised at how clearly she could sense the metal all around her when she was angry. It was like she still had her sight, she could make out parts of her surroundings.

And she could see the Decepticons.

Dawn didn't have to open her eyes for her attack. She saw it all going slowly in her mind. The lampposts bending and breaking, a fire hydrant flying off, everything metallic near her responding to her will and either flying out of her way or rippling and bending out of shape.

She let it all explode out of her mind and the wave that seemed slow to her, took the Decepticons by surprise, hitting them before they could react.

Dawn opened her eyes again, disoriented by what she had done. Then the last after-flow of the sudden power wore down and the exhaustion hit hard. She felt an overpowering urge to fall to her knees, but resisted it and willed herself to get ready for round two.

She took in all the damage she had caused, not only to her surroundings, but to the Decepticons too. None of them were standing, but they were conscious, probably going through their systems for damage report. This time her attack hadn't just pushed them back, it had from some parts bent their metal structure and especially the Decepti-kitty, as she now mentally called it, had most dents and even a few loose parts hanging from its side.

Dawn was tired, but thrilled. She had never done something that big. Maybe she really could help Optimus and the others to fight the Decepticons. All the people that had avoided being blasted by Starscream had already fled and she could see the distant police cars, hopefully being soon followed by the army or something. She just knew with her powers they might be able to force them to retreat…

A huge explosion cut her thoughts and her breath short.

The police and their cars were no more anything than burning wreckage. Dawn heard the rumble of heavy footsteps and turned slowly to see another Decepticon walking to the scene. All of her previous thoughts about making it out alive were wiped away from her mind. This Decepticon was big, a lot bigger than the others and really mean-looking to boot. She already knew from what the Autobots had told her, who he was.

"Lord Megatron", Starscream sounded annoyed. "How nice of you to join us."

The colossal Decepticon leader gave him a quick, superior glance. "It seems for a good reason, since you are failing me again Starscream."

Then those red optics fixed on Dawn and she felt smaller than ever. "What have we here? A human fighting my warriors?"

Dawn didn't or rather couldn't answer. Her mouth was dry and she had trouble swallowing the lump of fear caught in her throat. Megatron got down on one knee and placed his hand on the ground next to Dawn, which made her even more nervous than she already was, practically paralyzing her when he leaned closer.

"I know what you can do, little human. Why don't you show me?"

Dawn wanted to back down, but she was too terrified to move. Somehow she mustered the strength to find her words and spoke with a trembling voice. "W-Why? What do you want from me?"

Megatron stretched his fingers lazily next to Dawn, toying with the woman's obvious fear. "Well what do you think? A human possessing such power is of much interest to us, as well as it has been for the Autobots, I'm sure. Tell me, what do you intent to do with that power?"

Dawn was sure she was going to get squashed right then, but there was no sense in lying, the Decepticons weren't stupid, they had to know the answer to the question already. "I'll use it to protect the humans and Autobots from you."

Starscream laughed. "Such insolence from such a fragile creature."

Megatron put an end to his laughter with a sharp glare. "If my optics aren't malfunctioning, this fragile creature just took you all down? Or how do you explain your injuries?"

Dawn found her courage again, seeing the smug look on Starscream's face being wiped away. She regained some of her calm and realized that she would have to come up with a plan to escape. No way she would just stand there and get squashed. Her eyes started feverishly examining her surroundings for anything that could help her.

She tried to conceal her efforts when Megatron turned his red gaze back to her. "I'm sure we can think of a better use for you."

Dawn was startled by the massive, metallic hand that suddenly moved next to her, one finger touching her back and drawing a line from the base of her spine up to her neck.

"You're not the first human to work for us. Some needed a little more… persuasion than the others." The Decepticon leader brought his head right in front of hers with an evil grin. "But every human has their breaking point."

Next thing Megatron knew, was an internal damage report as something hit his right optic. Dawn had found her opportunity when he had moved his hand and revealed a sewer cover on the ground. She threw in another one of her pulse attacks, trying to knock the giant mech down and darted to the other direction, not staying to check if it had had the desired effect.

"Is that all, earthling? That almost tickled."

Dawn stopped again, panting. She concentrated once more on her anger, drawing strength from it and attacked again, making Megatron move back a little. The last attack made her feel horrible, cold sweat was forming on her forehead and she felt light-headed to the point where she was starting to lose control of her movements.

She knew she was in trouble. She had never used her powers that much and now it was going to cost her. She could hear the flow of her blood and the beating of her heart, covering up all other sounds. She vaguely registered low, rumbling voices somewhere around her, but their meaning was beyond her hazy mind.

Something exploded and Dawn's legs finally gave in and she fell to her hands and knees. She squeezed her eyes shut to stop the world from spinning, while everything around her was one, big chaos.

Suddenly she was lifted up in a hurry and carried running somewhere. "L-let… me go", she slurred, instinctively trying to use her spent powers.

"It's alright, Dawn. I got you."

"Sideswipe…?"

"Yeah, you're safe now, so just hang in there."

Dawn didn't know what had just happened, but looking up and seeing the Autobot's bright blue optics comforted her. She let her eyes close again and was unconscious before her head fell against the mech's chest plate.

"Dawn?", Sideswipe looked down to the small human, but got no answer. His spark ached with worry as he ran faster to get away from the battle that was raging behind them. Optimus and some of the other Autobots were still fighting off the Decepticons.

"Ratchet! Help! Help her!"

The chief medical officer was waiting for them, scanners ready. He started working immediately, examining the human woman, while Sideswipe held her carefully, noticing every cut and bruise covering her frail body.

The sight of her in such a bad condition made him want to head back to the fight and bash the scrap out of those Decepticons for hurting her. He controlled the urge, however, and turned impatiently to the medic.

"Aren't you ready yet? How bad is it?"

Ratchet shot him a stern look and continued working. "I'm not as worried about the visible injuries, as I am of the damage she has caused to herself. We need to bring her back to the base for proper treatment."

Ratchet transformed to his vehicle mode and Sideswipe set Dawn onto a stretcher in the back. Ratchet then sped off, leaving Sideswipe standing with his gloomy thoughts. It didn't take long until his twin brother emerged from the fight and walked up to him.

"Did you get them?" Sideswipe asked without turning around.

Sunstreaker put his hand on his brother's shoulder. "We gave them a beating they won't soon forget."

"Good, they deserved it."

The yellow Lamborghini shook his head. "Just look how attached you have become to that squishy, moping around as soon as she's the least bit injured."

Sideswipe's optics flashed and he was about to retaliate when Sunstreaker continued. "But I guess I understand you, after all, she's _our_ squishy, not a toy for slagging Decepticons."

Sideswipe stared at his brother bewildered until the yellow mech patted him to the back and transformed. "We should go see if she'll survive Ratchet's 'tender loving care'."

"Right", the red Lamborghini replied in a better mood, transforming too and getting a head start. "I forgot that the biggest danger was still ahead."


	6. The inventor's curiosity, Wheeljack

Dawn was watching for the third time that day as the twins were sneaking around, trying to pull some new prank on Ratchet. She shook her head, sighing to herself, but didn't bother to alert the unsuspecting medic of Sideswipe's and Sunstreaker's plans.

After all, the most amusing part was the chase after the twins had riled up Ratchet and were driving like crazy to get away from the reach of the Autobot medic and his wrench. They even had a competition every time about who dared to stay behind, closest to Ratchet or whoever they had aggravated that time.

Wheeljack entered the room, looking puzzled. "Has anyone seen my latest invention? I left it on my workbench and now it's nowhere to be found."

Dawn gestured the mech to come closer and pointed at the room, where the twins had disappeared. "Just wait a minute."

The inventor kneeled beside her, waiting for an explanation, but Dawn shushed him and waited for the inevitable.

She didn't have to wait for long, when they heard an explosion from the other room, followed by a thick wall of smoke.

"Drive for your life, bro!"

"You don't have to tell me twice!"

As Dawn had expected, the two Lamborghinis zoomed by them with a pissed off Ratchet on their tail.

"You air heads, when I catch you, I'm gonna reprogram your personalities to match that of the earth's slugs'"

With excited shrieks, the twins disappeared from sight, Ratchet right behind them. After things had quieted down, Dawn nodded towards the still smoky room and gave Wheeljack an innocent smirk. "Yep, that was definitely your invention there."

"Hahaha, very funny Dawn." The Autobot inventor sighed and headed to the site of the disaster. "It probably exploded only because those two jackasses fiddled with it."

"Yeah…" Dawn followed the mech. "I'm sure."

The damage wasn't nearly as bad as she had anticipated. Knowing Wheeljack's history with his inventions, she had been waiting for a bigger boom, but nothing seemed really damaged. The smoke in the air was irritating her, though, and making her cough.

Wheeljack immediately turned to her, worried, and lifted her up on his shoulder. "I'll never get how you humans function."

He grabbed the remains of his invention and quickly strode out of the room to cleaner air. Dawn patted the Autobot's ear, or whatever it was, she wasn't sure. "Don't worry, I can give you a lecture on humans, if you ever need one."

She didn't expect him to take her offer, not to mention right away, but Wheeljack gave her a pondering look, stroking his chin. "Fine by me, since I apparently won't be working on this today."

Dawn was somewhat baffled, wondering what kind of questions the inventor could have. She would soon find out.

They stopped in Wheeljack's private workspace. For obvious reasons, the other Autobots had insisted that he get his own place to test his inventions. Dawn slid down from the mech's shoulder, on to a table, where some of his earlier pieces of work lay unused, waiting for him to finish them. She circled around them, making sure not to touch anything, but nonetheless admiring Wheeljack's imagination. She was sure there were no limits to what he could do. It was a whole different matter, if what he did, stayed in one piece for long.

"So, did you have something in mind already?"

Wheeljack put the broken gadget on the table and sat down on his chair to get closer to the woman's eyelevel. "Well, a few things have aroused my curiosity. Some things we have different in here and on Cybertron."

Dawn was one, big question mark. "What is it?"

"Love, in all its different meanings."

The answer couldn't have been any more surprising and her first instinct was to laugh, but looking at the Autobot and hearing the tone in his voice convinced her that he was being serious. Dawn hid her smile with her hand and collected her thoughts.

"I'm afraid I'm not an expert on the subject, but I'll try to answer your questions."

"You mean you have never loved anything?" Wheeljack sounded genuinely surprised.

"No, I don't mean that", Dawn corrected, thinking hard, how to explain what she had meant. "I love lots of things, like my family or sleeping late on Sundays… and you guys. I love all my friends, but that's only one type of love."

Wheeljack nodded, but didn't say anything, so she continued. "Then there's falling in love with someone. Finding the person you feel like you want to spend the rest of your life with. That kind of love is extremely intense at first and one can feel like one can't exist without the other."

"So the difference with those is the intensity?"

"Yes…" Dawn wasn't sure how to better put it. "And of course the latter often includes sex."

"For reproducing purposes."

"Umm, yeah…" Dawn wasn't sure if she should have felt uncomfortable, but she was aware that she was talking to a giant, metallic alien being, so there shouldn't have been any reason to feel that, right? "But mostly for pleasure."

Wheeljack leaned closer and Dawn couldn't shake the uncomfortable feeling, cursing the fact that the mech's face was unreadable. "Speaking of that, the way you sense everything is also intriguing. You can experience pleasure with all your senses, am I correct?"

Dawn had completely lost the train of her thoughts and now she was blushing to boot. For goodness' sake, she wasn't a child, how come she was so affected by this conversation?

"Yes", was all she got out.

"And I'm guessing…" Wheeljack suddenly extended one finger to lightly touch the back of her neck. "That the sense of touch is the most important for that."

Dawn couldn't believe… she didn't even know what was happening. She tensed when the finger started traveling down her back, stopping suspiciously low. And things weren't about to stop there apparently.

The Autobot seemed to be in his thoughts, speaking more likely to himself, than to the woman. "Some parts are more sensitive than the others."

"Wheeljack…" Dawn stopped his hand from moving to her front. "You do realize I'm not one of your experiments?"

"Hmm? What do you mean?"

Dawn felt a twinge of irritation from the question. She really didn't want to explain that to the inventor. "What you're doing is… improper."

"Oh? How come?"

Dawn stared at the Autobot, amazed how he just couldn't take a hint. She decided to get it over with and be blunt. "This is too sexual, I mean, it's like you're purposely trying to turn me on."

Wheeljack brought his other hand on the table behind her, sealing her inside his reach. "That's exactly what I'm trying to do."

For a moment, Dawn's mouth was left open and she couldn't move or speak, but her heart was working on overdrive. Then as suddenly as the whole thing had began, the tension was cut by Wheeljack bursting into laughter.

"W-what?"

The Autobot inventor kept laughing, no doubt the woman's expression adding to his hilarity.

"What the hell, Wheeljack? Was this some kind of a joke?"

Dawn felt relieved, but was still in disbelief of the mech's trickery. "I don't believe you."

Wheeljack stifled his laughter and crossed his arms across his chest. "After all the scrap I get to hear about my inventions, I think I'm entitled to a payback from time to time."

"That's just fine, but please, next time concentrate on getting even with the twins. I really thought you were serious."

"Apparently I have some gifts in acting too."

"Yeah", Dawn wanted to smack the Autobot for his smug behavior. "You should give lessons to Smokescreen."

She stepped to the edge of the table. "Now if you'd be so kind as to help me down from here, I have things to do."

Wheeljack complied, placing her on to the floor. "What things?"

"First of all, taking a cold shower."

Dawn exited quickly, unaware that Wheeljack knew a lot more than he had led her to believe, including the meaning of cold showers. He watched as the woman walked away, his processors filled with new ideas.

"Interesting."


	7. Sideswipe's fun

"Do you two ever simply rest, or is it programmed in you that you must never stop bugging others?"

Dawn's question was aimed at Sideswipe and Sunstreaker, who were sitting and watching her training session. She had been at it for a couple of hours already, and the twins had been with her half the time. Now she was getting tired physically and mentally.

"It's part of our charm", Sunstreaker grinned, leaning against some crates casually. Sideswipe was following his brother's example, taking it easy. "Besides, right now you're the most entertaining thing here."

"Well, isn't that great", Dawn huffed, wiping a trickle of sweat from her forehead, before repeating her latest exercise and hitting a thick metal wall in front of her with her psychic powers. It's surface was no more smooth, but filled with deep dents, her newest attack adding another one. She was supposed to concentrate her powers so that she could tear through the metal, but so far she had had no luck. Even though she could control metal, she hadn't figured out yet how to mold its original shape, she could only move it.

Her performance got applauded by the twins. Like every other thing she had done after their arrival. And judged.

"I'd give that one a seven out of ten", Sideswipe pretended to be serious.

"Really?", Sunstreaker replied with as much fake pretension. "I was going to give only a six. When you look at it, you can see that it's not deep as the last one. I'm afraid she's losing her edge."

Dawn could feel the headache coming. During the last hour, the Lamborghini brothers had come up with an impressing amount of ways to make that happen. She shut out their never-ending yammering and decided to call it quits after the next hit. Summoning every last bit of strength she had, she blasted the wall one last time.

"That was clearly better", Sideswipe nodded approvingly. "Don't you think bro?"

"Well, I guess, but it still didn't go through."

Both Autobot's attention was drawn back to Dawn, as she without a warning, collapsed on to the ground.

"Dawn!" They exclaimed as one, running to her.

When Dawn came to, her first thought was amazement. She didn't remember blacking out. Her second thought was a feel of comfort as someone gently stroked her head. She opened her eyes slowly to meet two sets of blue optics, staring back at her.

"What's with those faces?" She mumbled, trying to get up. She quickly noticed that she was being held by Sideswipe and that he wasn't going to let her go.

"What's with you fainting like that?" Sunstreaker scolded her, but before she could answer, both mechs froze to listen to something she couldn't hear.

"Optimus wants us on a mission", Sunstreaker stated out loud. The twins exchanged looks and Sideswipe smiled and shrugged. "Go kick some Decepticon tailpipes for me too, Sunny. And bring me a souvenir."

"Will do, Sides."

"Have fun!" Dawn wished the yellow mech, getting a wink from him, before he transformed and sped away.

The dust in the air was still settling when Dawn looked up at Sideswipe. "You know, you can go too. I'm fine, I just…"

Her speech was cut short by Sideswipe pressing his finger against her lips. "Shut it, you're not fine. But don't worry…" His next words didn't exactly calm her mind. "I'm here to take care of you."

"Great, I feel a lot better already."

"Considering that I'm sparing you from having to go see Ratchet, you should."

Dawn hadn't thought it like that. She sighed in defeat. "Okay, you're right. I guess you're the lesser of two evils."

Sideswipe's expression changed to an ominous grin. "You just submit yourself to my care and you'll be as good as new in no time."

The red Autobot carried her outside the building where her room was and she couldn't help but feel like he saw her as a new, exciting toy to play with. He let her down on the ground, but only for the while it took him to transform and activate his holoform in order to fit inside the human sized building.

As soon as he was ready, he swept the woman off of her feet again and headed inside. Dawn didn't appreciate the bridal style entrance, but there was no use in protesting. Even though Sideswipe's holoform was considerably smaller than his original form, he was still strong.

"Now, what should we do first to make you better?"

Dawn listened to the Autobot's pondering, thinking how to keep him off her back long enough to sneak away. "You could go and find me some painkillers for my headache, while I take a shower."

"No way I'll leave you alone, when you're this weak", Sideswipe stated stubbornly. "But I'm all for the second idea."

"What?"

"I'll help you take a shower."

"What?"

Dawn started fidgeting in Sideswipe's arms. "Let me down Sides."

The mech did as said and Dawn placed her hands decisively on her hips, but right when she was about to lecture him, her vision started blurring. She took a step back and found a chair to fall on. She put her head between her legs and groaned.

Sideswipe stood in front of her. "See? You've used up all your energy."

Dawn took a moment before sitting up again and looking at the Autobot with irritation. "I don't need your help."

"Yes you need", Sideswipe insisted and placed his hands on the chair's arm rests, bringing his face close to hers with finality in his voice. "And you can't stop me."

Dawn stared at the glowing, blue optics, unsure how to react. "So you're telling me I should just be cool with you watching me shower?"

Sideswipe smirked. "What's the problem? I'm not human. Why would it matter if I watched you?"

Dawn couldn't say anything to that. It really was silly to think any Cybertronian would be interested in a human that way. So no, there shouldn't have been a problem. Besides, she really needed a shower.

"Fine. But after that, I'm gonna get some sleep and I want to be left alone."

"Why of course", Sideswipe stepped back and bowed chivalrously, offering the woman his hand. Dawn took it and with his support, they got to the showers.

From there it was awkward for Dawn as she turned her back on him and began undressing. No matter how hard she tried to convince herself that she wasn't supposed to be embarrassed, standing naked in front of the Autobot made her feel extremely bashful.

"You're getting cold", Sideswipe wrapped his arm around Dawn's waist and started guiding her under the shower. "Except your face which seems quite red."

Dawn turned her face away and turned the water on. She had noticed, standing next to the mech that he was radiating heat, which she was pretty sure he hadn't been doing before.

"You're enjoying this, aren't you?" She accused Sideswipe, keeping her back turned on him and let the water flow on her. Suddenly both metallic hands were on her waist and she was pulled against the Autobot. She let out a surprised gasp, in shock as Sideswipe spoke to her ear.

"Immensely."

"Sideswipe…" She uttered his name, left completely helpless by the unexpected situation. "I thought you said…"

"I lied", the mech grinned, lowering his head down to the back of her neck.

Dawn jumped at the feel of his lip plates pressing on her skin and releasing a small jolt. The hands on her waist tightened their grip and the heat Dawn had noticed just before, was unmistakable.

She was at a loss for words, unable to think properly and unable to move. And what confused her the most, was that her first reaction hadn't been to push Sideswipe away or tell him to get out. She vaguely realized that should've been the first thing to do. She wasn't even angry, which was usually the situation with the twins and their mischievous antics. Now she just didn't know how to feel.

"Are… are you serious?" Dawn asked the first thing coming to her mind.

Sideswipe's engine was purring as he turned the woman to face him. "About finding you attractive? Yes." He lifted one hand to the side of her head, stroking her cheek with his thumb. "And unless you feel like you can stop me now, I'm serious about kissing you."

Dawn felt like those blue optics were burning right through her, into her soul. She felt like the hands touching her were electrifying her, filling her with new kind of energy.

And she felt like there was no way she could stop him. Or even want to.

Sideswipe leaned closer and stopped for a moment to see what the woman would do. When she didn't protest in any way, he closed the distance between them and brushed her lips gently with his.

Again Dawn could feel the startling jolt going through her. It wasn't bad, though, it was actually quite pleasant. Before she knew what she was doing, she had raised her own hand up to Sideswipe's chest plate.

That was enough confirmation for the mech, who stopped holding back and deepened the kiss, turning around with her so that she had her back against the wall. As Dawn hit the wall knew she was in trouble. She had never before felt so helpless and at the same time loved it so much.

Sideswipe pulled back, leaving Dawn wide-eyed to try and even her breathing. The Autobot chuckled, watching her. "What a cute face you have right now."

Sideswipe leaned his arm on the wall next to the woman's head and let his optics travel around her body. His other hand followed his gaze, sliding across the soft skin, searching for sensitive spots. It was slow torture for Dawn, but every involuntary sound that escaped from her was a prize for the mech.

Dawn didn't dare to speak. She kept her eyes focused on the Autobot's face, seeing clearly how satisfied he was with himself. It was insufferable, but there really wasn't anything she could do.

Or was there?

Dawn bit her lip and let her hand glide over the mech's chest plate and instinctively to the wiring partially revealed on his neck. With the lightest touch possible, she drew a line with her finger.

She hadn't expected him to react much, so she was surprised when Sideswipe flinched and looked up at her with a hilarious taken by surprise look. Dawn couldn't stop a smile and was instantly made to pay for it.

"Why you…" Sideswipe's expression changed to pretended anger, which didn't work so well when he was grinning at the same time. "It's still my turn to play."

He grabbed Dawn's wrist and spun her around so that this time she was facing the wall. Then he pinned her against it with his own body, preventing her efficiently from moving. "Don't make me punish you for breaking the rules."

Dawn turned her head to the side. "I don't recall agreeing to any rules here."

"Oh, I always play by my own rules", the mech assured her. "and I think you're just asking to be punished."

Dawn shivered, partially because the wall she was leaning against, was cold, but mostly because the words were promising more sensual torture and she didn't know how she would handle it.

Sideswipe slid his hand under the woman's arm, aiming for the spot he had just before found out to be very sensitive. He pinched it between his fingers, making Dawn take a sharp breath and tense visibly.

No fair, she thought closing her eyes and pressing her forehead to the wall. The Autobot kept concentrating on her nipple, rubbing it with one hand and bending lower to send more static kisses on her neck and shoulders.

Dawn kept writhing, trapped in place and holding in her moans. Sideswipe was clearly playing a game and she was too stubborn to give in to him this easily.

"You don't need to hold back, I can see my touch is bringing you pleasure."

Dawn forced herself to relax as much as she could and answered in a nonchalant voice. "Are you sure? Because I don't think you know much about what you're doing."

There was a brief silence, during which Sideswipe seemed to contemplate her words. Then the weight on her eased and she was allowed to turn around again. The look she saw on the mech's face was a mix of pondering and excitement.

"What are you thinking now?" Dawn was almost afraid to ask.

Sideswipe gave her a quick grin and shut the still flowing water. "You have a point there." Without any warning, he lifted the woman in his arms once more. "To make things really fun, I need to do some research first and you'll need to rest."

Dawn reached a point where she just couldn't say anything anymore. The Autobot's train of thought was baffling as well as his intentions of rescheduling their little session. And worst of all, she found herself again unable to tell him no.

She could still feel the effects of Sideswipe's treatment. Her heart was beating a little too fast and she couldn't deny the fact that she was turned on. That only proved how crazy she was. Sideswipe wasn't even nowhere near human and still she felt attracted to him. Dawn spent the time it took them to get to her room in her thoughts.

There the mech placed her on her bed and grabbed a towel to dry her. Not that she was that wet, she hadn't been long under the shower and almost everything, but her hair had already been dried by the heat emitting from the Autobot. She wasn't even cold anymore.

The self-satisfied look didn't disappear as Sideswipe wrapped the towel around her and started drying her. Dawn lowered her eyes and shook her head, trying to hide a small smile that was creeping on her face.

Sideswipe kneeled in front of her, letting the towel drape over her shoulders and set his elbows on both sides of the woman's legs, resting his head against his hands. "What are you thinking?"

Dawn stared at the glowing, blue optics that studied her, thinking how much she hated that question, but softened at the sight of the genuine curiosity on the mech's face. "If I wanted you to know, I would tell you."

"You're thinking something about me and not telling. Suspicious…"

Sideswipe might've been somewhat arrogant and narcissist, but in him, those qualities combined with a sort of childlike look on world. He was always looking for something new and exciting to do, whether it was fighting some Decepticon or in this case, gaining other… new experiences.

He, as well as his brother, didn't always take others into consideration, but as a friend he was someone, you could count to have your back when you needed help. Dawn couldn't deny having lost her temper sometimes with the twins in the past, but she couldn't also deny that both of them were very dear to her.

Dawn looked at the Autobot, who was not moving from his spot, and to his amazement burst into laughter.

Sideswipe's expression got a hint of uncertainty. "I didn't break you by accident, did I?"

Dawn kept laughing, throwing herself down on the bed and covering her face with her hands. Lying there on her back reminded her about how exhausted she really was now that she was getting over the excitement.

Gradually her laughter quieted until she was merely chuckling and smiling from behind her hands. "No you didn't. I'm just tired."

Even without looking Dawn could tell from the weight shifting on the bed that Sideswipe had gotten on the bed with her and was hovering above her.

"I know", his voice stated somewhere near her hidden face. "I didn't forget that, even though I might've seemed to."

Dawn moved her hands to see the mech's face above hers, still holding onto the mischievous grin that could regularly be seen on both twins. The red lambo lowered himself, until his head was only inches away from hers.

"I just wanted to see what I could do with you."

Not waiting for the woman's reply that he could see from her expression was going to be stingy, Sideswipe quickly planted one last kiss on her parted lips before retreating. The sudden lack of the heat, the Autobot had been radiating, left Dawn shivering. She sat up, pulling the towel around her again, and watched as Sideswipe waved to her from the door.

"Now get some rest so I don't have to tell Ratchet on you."

"Yeah, yeah", Dawn rolled her eyes.

Sideswipe cancelled his holoform, disappearing from the room, but not before pondering happily to himself. "I can't wait to tell Sunstreaker."

Dawn was left alone with the mech's last words echoing in her horrified mind.

"WHAAAT!"

Leave it to an alien robot not to know the meaning of the word subtlety. It was already too late to do anything about it, so Dawn settled on plotting revenge. She was too tired to go after Sideswipe now. Sighing, she got up to fetch her pajamas, ready to finally catch some sleep.

She didn't have to wait for long to fall asleep, last thoughts hanging in her mind just before her lights went out. Would Sideswipe really spread the information about what they had almost done, and how could she inflict a suitable amount of pain on him incase he would.


	8. Weakness, Optimus

Dawn placed her hands on her hips and gave a frustrated look at Optimus, or rather, his holoform.

"You can't be serious. But you promised me…"

"I promised that you could join us in our missions, _after_ you've practiced your skills enough."

Dawn stared, frowning, at the unswerving leader of the Autobots. It was easier than usual, since his holoform was pretty much human size. She had to admit, it was thoughtful of him to use it when speaking with her. Unfortunately, it didn't diminish the authoritative aura, he had.

"I've been practicing my ass off", Dawn protested, trying her best to endure the piercing gaze of the azure optics that were fixed on her. Despite her objections, Optimus kept his calm, but stern tone.

"Indeed you have. But you still have a weakness that makes it too dangerous for you to participate in any missions involving the Decepticons."

"What do you mean?" Dawn asked aggravated, but lost some of the edge, when Optimus stepped right in front of her, making her turn her head up to be able to meet his optics. She couldn't help, but admire, how well the role of a leader suited the Cybertronian. He was, simply put, impressive.

"First of all, your powers make you a target for the Decepticons…"

"But I can take care of myself! That was my point when I said I've been training…"

Dawn's rant was cut short and changed into a gasp, when Optimus grabbed her by the wrists, shooting a fiery glare at her. "What are you going to do when a Decepticon catches you? What are you going to do when you can't use your hands to focus your power?"

Dawn could neither answer him, nor struggle to free herself. She was too shocked by the sudden anger in the normally calm mech's voice and by the fact that he was actually holding her in a rather tight grip. "Optimus…"

"You haven't been practicing that like Ratchet advised you to do, have you? You have to be able to use your powers without depending solely on your hands."

"I… i-it's too difficult", Dawn stuttered, trying to find what to say.

The Autobot leader wasn't going to let her get away with that. "Show me what you would do."

"What?"

"What would you do if I was a Decepticon?"

Dawn stared wide-eyed at the red and blue mech. "Optimus, please. Stop this, it's not cool…"

Optimus' reply came with a harsh tone. "Not until you show me."

Dawn shook her head. "No, this is…"

Again she was cut off in the middle of her sentence, as Optimus shoved her back, until they hit a wall. Dawn tried to catch the breath that had escaped her. "Let me go."

"Make me."

Dawn was startled by how Optimus was acting. Ironhide had been tough on her when training her, but even he hadn't done something like this. Optimus kept pushing her harder against the wall, still holding her wrists. Dawn started to instinctively feel panic, as it became harder for her to breath properly.

She couldn't move her arms, but her hands still moved from above the wrists. That was enough for her to try and move anything metallic that could be found. There was a metal bucket in one corner of the room, and that was what she began aiming for.

Optimus immediately picked up on what she was doing. "Not like that."

The pressure released for a moment, but before Dawn could do anything, she was thrown on her back to the floor and pinned again. This time so that she couldn't move even the tips of her fingers.

"Let me go!" At this point, Dawn was shouting and struggling against the overpowering mech. He had no difficulty holding her in place with his sheer weight.

"What can you do now?" Optimus demanded. "What will you do when a Decepticon gets a hold of you?"

"Get off of me!"

"Do you realize that right now I could do whatever I wanted with you?"

"Get the FUCK off me!"

"They won't just kill you, they will humiliate you, torture you, they could even rape you just for their amusement. And you are going to let it happen, if you're not prepared to defend yourself…"

"OKAY!"

Tears were flowing from Dawn's eyes. "I get it… I get it. I'll train more."

They stared at each other for a while, until Optimus let out a heavy sigh and moved away. "I am deeply sorry I had to use such harsh methods, but I hope you understand why."

Dawn sat up, shaking and wiping her face. Optimus gave her a hand and helped her up. Since she wasn't saying anything, he continued. "You have seen few battles and hardly know what this war can be at its worst. I need you to understand the dangers."

"Y-yeah, I get it", Dawn spoke quietly, looking down at her feet. It wasn't difficult for the Autobot to see that she was still in shock.

"Dawn, I'm sorry."

The woman cleared her throat and glanced up, giving the sorriest excuse for a smile. "I'm fine, don't worry about it."

What followed, gave Dawn a new reason to stay shocked.

Optimus pulled her closer into a hug.

Dawn went rigid at first, but the soft, baritone voice vibrating from the mech's chassis made her relax. "Listen. I would never forgive myself, if I sent you to a battle, knowing you're not ready, and then saw you get hurt. So believe me, when I say that what I had to do, pained me greatly, but it had to be done."

Dawn was starting to feel better bit by bit. She rested her hands against Optimus' chassis, actually enjoying herself. She wondered, if it was the Autobot leader's spark somewhere close to her hands that made her feel a little funny. Nevertheless, it was amazing, how much he was able to comfort her, even after giving her such a scare.

Dawn looked into the bright optics that seemed to be filled with a kind of sadness and anxiety. She managed a more convincing smile this time. "I believe you."

That obviously eased the mech's mind too. Even though Dawn couldn't see his mouth, she was sure he was smiling back at her. Then the moment passed and Optimus' gaze turned distant for a second.

Dawn had seen that look enough times to know he was listening to someone on their internal communications link. "I guess duty calls."

Optimus turned his attention back to her and nodded. "Will you be alright?"

"Of course. Besides, I got some training to do, don't I?"

"Yes you do."

They were clearly done talking, but still it took a little longer until Optimus let her go. He looked like he yet had something to say, but whatever it was, he didn't say it.

"Be careful, when you go bust up some Decepticons, will you?" Dawn tried to sound cheerful.

Nodding again, Optimus' holoform was gone in a blink of an eye. Dawn's smile faded away as she was left alone with confusing thoughts. It wasn't enough that Optimus had been acting strangely, she had also made a notion of herself.

She shivered, thinking about what Optimus had said when he had pinned her down to the floor. _Do you realize that right now I could do whatever I wanted with you?_

That had both frightened and excited her. It still made her shiver, just thinking about it.

Dawn couldn't get her thoughts straight. She had a feeling something was about to change.


End file.
